All Good Men
by GoddessofSnark
Summary: All good things must come to an end. All good men too. Last in Amor del un Hermano
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own them, the phallic castle does.  
  
A/N: The last installment in the Amor del un Hermano universe. Enjoy!  
  
Commodore James Norrington stood at the helm of his ship, watching as the bow of the other boat drew closer and closer. He knew what the other ship was, and he knew what it's purpose was. The other captain could never leave well enough alone, and both of them knew it. He called the orders to his ship, readying them for what would be the ensuing battle, drawing his own ssword, not the one he received at his promotion to commodore, even though that was a fine blade, but the one that he had for the past twenty years that had never let him down.  
  
The other ship came within range of their cannons and he had his crew fire a warning shot dangerously close to the front of their ship. They fired back as they sailed ever closer. Before either captain knew it, the two great, legendary ships were engaged in an epic battle. The HMS Dauntless, pride of the royal navy against the only pirate ship that could offer any sort of a challenge, the legendary Black Pearl. The Pearl was perhaps the only ship that could offer any sort of a threat to Dauntless, and Norrington knew it.  
  
He heard the order from the small, lithe man on the other boat that his pirate crew should board. Norrington steadied himself for the upcoming onslaught, along with the rest of his crew. It wasn't long until he was face to face with the legendary captain that moved with feline grace. They both drew their swords as the respective crews of each ship backed off from their duels to observe the most major one, the first mates of each ship backing their captains as seconds.  
  
"well there mate, nice to see ya again."  
  
"Mr. Sparrow." Norrington was edgy, and rightfully so.  
  
"Ah, my dear Commodore. We meet again." Their swords met and the metallic clang echoed in the ominous grey sky.  
  
"So we do." They met and parried each other's blows with skill, skill that both of them earned from years of skill.  
  
"You use the same moves I taught you. Some things never change." Norrington drove in fiercely after that. The fighting reached a new, more dangerous level. Neither Norrington nor Sparrow would give in, both of them fought with extreme skill, and extreme force.  
  
It wasn't until Sparrow had knocked Norrington to the ground that either one of the gave in. Norrington hit the deck fiercely, squarely on his back, sword still held above him, blocking any blows that the Pirate would try to inflict, but he was unable to get up without exposing himself. Sparrow wheeled around to avoid Norrington's feeble attempt to jab him from the deck, to find himself being sliced open by the Dauntless' first mate, and the Commodore's most trusted friend Gillette.  
  
Norrington got up shakily, as the pirate stumbled to the rail of the ship. He was torn, between the knowledge that the man that had just almost killed him, that could have just killed him, now stood bleeding on his ship, because of him, because he chose to engage the man in a fight. But this man was also a pirate, a criminal, someone who he had already let slide twice previously, who he had almost seen killed, who had to turn away when the gallows dropped, and if it hadn't been for Turner, would have saved the legendary pirate himself.  
  
"Send for the doctor, and bring this man down to the cabin." Norrington sheathed his sword, and walked towards the door to below decks rather shakily. The pirate crew watched as their fearless leader was led down before the Commodore, protesting quite feebly that he was fine. The Navy eyed the pirates warily, before the first mate, a woman no less, stepped forward.  
  
"Commodore Norrington." She was loud, and bold, and drew his attention easily.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"We will leave our captain in your hands, good luck, you're going to need it." The pirate crew laughed raucously at this, and the navy tittered slightly. With those parting words, the pirates retreated to their ship, but made no sign of moving their ship. They stayed next to the Dauntless, keeping a close eye on the royal ship, breathing down the officer's necks without doing a single thing.  
  
Norrington paced through his cabin as the doctor set to work on the long gaping gash that split him from side to shoulder. He was the little boy from the little coastal town in the north of England again. He was the little boy who looked up to and revered his older brother. He removed the old torn and tattered hat and the trademark red bandana he had gotten from his brother, and found his chest curiously, painfully tight. The last time he felt this was the time he thought his brother to be dead.  
  
He found the doctor emerging from the quarters next to him, and asked as nonchalantly as possible how the Pirate was, and the doctor only looked grim. Norrington walked into the cabin, lacking his powdered wig and bright red coat, wearing only his breeches and shirt. He was no longer Commodore James Andrew Norrington, great pirate hunter of the Caribbean, but rather James, the lost little boy who wanted nothing more than to be respected in his brother's eyes.  
  
He didn't know what he'd find in the cabin, and he was afraid of what he'd find. He was afraid of finding the other man almost dead, he was afraid of loosing another person he was close to. He was afraid of loosing the man that he had looked up to the most, the man who taught him everything he knew. This was his protector, his guide, his mentor. This was the man that he had saved from death at his own expense so many times before, he didn't want to see him die at his hands. He didn't want to see his brother dead on his ship, because of him. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey there mate, what brings you down here?" The voice held it's familiar lilt, but it sounded pained, and you could see the sweat on his brow. It was a severe injury, and both of them knew it. Norrington would have a major discussion with Gillette when he finished with the man before him.  
  
"I came to have a word with you." it was blunt, businesslike, very much like the proud naval officer was.  
  
"Well then, by all means, sit. You look like you're ready to toss me bed and all into the ocean." The man with the feline grace before him laughed, and the Commodore allowed a small smile to play on his lips.  
  
"John-" he started, after a long, drawn out, somewhat terrifying pause.  
  
"Jack. Jack Sparrow."  
  
"Why did you change your name, and why did you pick something as idiotic as that?" the question had plagued Norrington since he had found out about the man's name change.  
  
"John's too formal of a name for a pirate, Jack sounds much better. And Norrington isn't exactly a common last name, now is it? Sparrows are beautiful birds, luv. No reason other than that."  
  
"You just changed your name like that?"  
  
"It's easy to do mate when you're a pirate. They believe whatever you say." Norrington nodded.  
  
"I just came in here to say something."  
  
"Is it to tell me you can't let me off this time?" Norrington smiled slightly, along with the other man.  
  
"Well, I can't, but John-" This time the other man let the name slide.  
  
"Yes luv?"  
  
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." I'm sorry. Two words that were so hard for him to say. Two words that he never thought he'd have to say. The Pirate looked up at him, sympathy and something else, something lurking in those soft brown eyes that the younger man hadn't seen in ages.  
  
"For what luv? You have nothing to be sorry about."  
  
"Quite the opposite, really." A small smile crept across the injured man's face.  
  
"you've got nothing to be guilty of." The words were pained, and they both knew that his time left was limited, that the great, legendary Captain Jack Sparrow might have finally met his final match.  
  
"I do. I have everything to be guilty of." This was a side of the famed Commodore that most had never seen before. A side that showed emotion, a side that could actually feel, a side of the esteemed man that actually was human.  
  
"Mate, you've done nothing wrong. You had your honor, you had everything you believed in." And this was a side of the legendary pirate that most never wanted to see. A side of the pirate that was too soft, too gentle for most to believe.  
  
"I believed in killing my own brother."  
  
"It was my choice to do this mate." He was so quiet, so small as he lay there each breath become more and more labored.  
  
"But I should have never actively chased after you for so long. I was so wrong. This is all my fault. I killed my own brother."  
  
"Shh, don't say that mate, I'm still alive." They both knew that he wasn't going to last much longer.  
  
"John, I'm sorry. I almost killed you myself before, now I've gone and done it."  
  
"Look luv, don't beat yourself up over it. It was your first mate that did this, not you."  
  
"But it's my fault." He was on the brink. The man he thought he hated, the brother he thought he couldn't love was dying in front of him, and he couldn't help but be upset. This was the man that he had learned everything from. He couldn't help but pain over his lost brother, the man that he had disowned himself from.  
  
"Just relax mate, I forgive you." The pirate drawl that the man had picked up was gone. This was no longer the loathsome pirate to be feared, to be respect. No, this was the John Norrington, the fearless man who would rather die than see his crew go down. This was the man that The Commodore remembered. This was the brother that he had loved, this was the man that he had respected, the man he wanted to follow in everything he did. "James?" The voice was so quiet, so weak.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Bury me at sea. Give me a funeral befitting a good captain." This was the last straw for The Commodore. The tears that had threatened the great James Norrington started to spill out. "Tell me men that I fell behind. Tell them that my last order is to leave here. And give me a good Navy death." The man on the bed smiled weakly. "I don't regret the life I've lived, but I always wanted to die a good death. I want the pomp, I want the drummers, I want the formalities. If anyone should be sorry mate, it's me."  
  
"You were a good man."  
  
"I guess. I never killed a man on purpose; I've never raped a woman. I guess you can say I'm a good man. I'm sorry luv, I'm just glad I could teach you everything I did. Goodbye luv." James understood what the man was saying, and he fought as hard as he could to stop himself from outright sobbing. He couldn't stop the tears that betrayed his control and slid down his cheek, but the least he could do was stop himself sobbing over the man.  
  
The man on the bed was no longer Jack Sparrow, but the good John Norrington. The man that was weeping was no longer Commodore James Norrington, but the young Jimmy, the boy who would sit on the beach watching as his brother used the large rocks worn smooth by the ocean as his stage to tell the tales of ferocious pirates. They were not the men they pretended to be, the men they were now, but the men that the once were, when they were both young boys, idealistic and naive.  
  
Now they were hard and cynical. Now older of the two still looked vibrant and youthful, while the younger was haggard from years of long work and fussing over being perfect. But they both had aged, and both had built walls against their hearts, walls only their own family could break down. James looked soulfully down at the other man, watching the harsh, labored breaths. "James." the Commodore grabbed the other mans hand, as if to draw the pain away. "You were my favorite brother."  
  
"I was your only brother." The attempted joke faltered in the thick air.  
  
"Well, that too. But you've come further than I ever have. Bring me back on the deck."  
  
"Why?" Norrington was more concerned for the man's health than he was about what the man would do.  
  
"I want to die with the sea spray on my face." With tears fresh in his eyes, Norrington helped him to his feet and all but carried the him up the stairs. 


	3. Chapter 3

The pirate gripped the rail of the ship to keep himself upright. His former crew came close as if to pick him up, but he just stared at them. A group of men gathered around Jack, waiting to see what the man would do, waiting to see if he would die. "It's time to go free." Was all he could say. He knew his time was drawing nearer and nearer, that death was overshadowing him intently. He looked up at the helm of his ship, his pride and his joy, the Black Pearl. The crew had already boarded back onto the Dauntless, ready to see what their honored captain would do.  
  
"I would love to die on my ship, but I would rather die as the man I once was." When he had been wounded, he had had a chance to reflect on his life. "I don't regret the life I lived, I never will, but I once wore a fine red coat, and I once was respected by one and all." The words were becoming increasingly harder for him to say. "And I want to go down to Davey Jones' locker wearing that fine red coat I once had. I don't want to die as Jack Sparrow, scourge of the ocean. I want to die as John Norrington, the good brother who taught his kin everything that I knew." At this statement, everyone turned to look at the Commodore, who appeared very uncomfortable.  
  
"I pass the Pearl on to Ana Maria, and my loot is to my crew. But I give my soul, my body to the ocean." Everyone could see why Jack always commanded so much presence. He had an amazing way with words, and now, even as he was about to die, he still could spin a beautiful speech. He looked out to the ocean, and everyone's eyes followed. "Out there is freedom. The most beautiful thing in the world is the ocean." He was fading away and fast. His knees buckled, and instantly, there were half a dozen people to ease him to the deck. His dark brown eyes locked with a pair of green eyes, eyes the color of the sea before a storm.  
  
"I'm sorry luv." Was all the man could say. His eyes were starting to glaze as he entered into his final stage.  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For not being a better brother." He said quietly. "I was the worst role model in the world. Look at me now, I'm a pirate." The crowd around him tittered slightly. It was just like him to be cracking jokes before he died.  
  
"You were the best brother I had."  
  
"The only brother you had." Those words were punctuated by a harsh gasp from him as he felt the cold starting to travel up from his toes. "You made me wonder what I missed out on, I forgot what honor was. I forgot what it was like to not worry about a mutiny every day. And I missed it. I want to die a respectable death, if nothing else." Both crews were shocked at this blatant admission by the captain. One crew who never knew a side of the famed man outside of his leadership, his love of the ocean, and the other crew who had done nothing but track down the man.  
  
"Jack." A light voice, a female voice cut through the crowd. Ana Maria stepped through the throng to where the man lay, his deathbed being the deck of the ship, where he could die with the sea spray on his face, just as he wished. "Jack, you can't die, you can't leave the Pearl to me, she's your ship."  
  
"Apparently, as much as I'd like to believe otherwise, I can die. And you're the best there is out there. She's all yours luv. I promised you a ship." He smiled weakly, and moaned gently in pain. "Show's over folks, hope you enjoyed it. The main character's died, the third acts over. It's time to go home." The crowd still looked on though, sympathy in all of their eyes. If nothing else, they all had to respect the man for all he'd done.  
  
He finally let out one long, last gasp as he died. Ana Maria looked up from where she had been kneeling at his side, and stared the last surviving Norrington in the eye. "You can bury him in full navy regalia, but he was still our captain." Everyone knew what the bold woman was trying to say. "He's still going to go down as a pirate, at least part of the way." With that, she removed a medal that she was wearing around her neck, a gold doubloon and fastened it around her beloved captain's neck.  
  
Norrington removed the coat he was wearing from his shoulders, and put it on the dead man before him. His brother looked so much like the man he remembered him to be, wearing that coat. He could remember so many days on the beach, remember how the rest of the town would break from their activities to listen to the tales, remember how adept his brother was at everything, from the sword to sailing. And the more he remembered, the harder the death hit him. He felt Gillette approach, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.  
  
He shrugged it off violently. This was the man that had killed his brother. This was his most trusted friend, this was the man that he valued the most. This was a man that he now hated, but a man that was invaluable. Their eyes locked, and Gillette broke the stare. "I'm sorry." The young lieutenant said quietly, but his commander just glared at him, his anger evident in his eyes. The drummers had gotten their drums that they had brought for this reason alone.  
  
The steady rhythm that they played was soothing to everyone on the ship. A priest came out to say the last rights over the body, and Norrington found it to be harder and harder to keep his composure. He thought of all the things the other man had told him. He thought of all the time that he thought he had been dead. Thinking the man had been dead was bad enough, but now, knowing that for a fact that he was dead nearly killed him. Knowing that he died at his hands, at his fault, drove him to the brink of madness, to the brink of death.  
  
One of the pirates retreated back to his ship, as Norrington ran to his cabin for a moment. Both returned at the same time, the Commodore with the hat that his brother had given him, and the pirate with the flag from the top of the Pearl. Norrington removed the old, worn sword at his hip, the one that he had worn for so long, and replaced the sword that Jack now wore with the sword that the man had given him, along with the hat.  
  
The pirate wrapped the body in the flag, the skull and crossbones covering the dead man's chest. The priest gave a final sign of the cross over the body, as the drummers resumed their playing a steady beat, the same one they had played as the men were being called to the gallows. Norrington looked at Ana Maria and she nodded. The two of them lifted the body up, and as the drummers sped up to a roll, the two of them threw the body overboard, a death befitting both the man that was the Pirate and the Captain.  
  
Both crews retreated back to their posts, but Ana Maria and the Commodore stood at the rail, watching as the last ripples faded away. "He was a good man." She said quietly. She placed a comforting hand on his arm. "He must have been one hell of a brother." Norrington nodded.  
  
"He was always so alive." Tears threatened him again, and when he looked into her eyes, he found them to be glistening as well.  
  
"I guess all good things must come to an end."  
  
"All good men as well." With that, Ana Maria walked back to the ship that was now hers, and James Norrington walked down to his quarters, each lost in somber thoughts about the man that had passed. 


End file.
